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Veendam

Philip M. Haggerty

Age: 71

Occupation:Retired

Number of Cruises: 11

Cruise Line: Holland America

Ship: Veendam

Sailing Date: March 13th, 2004

Itinerary: Western Caribbean

I am Phil Haggerty and my wife is Edith Goble. I am a retired city attorney and
Edith is a homemaker and retired health service provider. This would be our 11th
cruise, but the first on HAL. Our initial cruise was on Carnival’s Elation to
the Mexican Riviera, followed by a Caribbean trip on the now defunct Commodore
Lines’ Enchanted Isle. Next we had our first two Celebrity cruises, Galaxy for
the Eastern Caribbean and Mercury around Cape Horn. We then took Sun Princess to
Alaska for a cruise and land tour combination, followed by a Western Caribbean
trip on Norwegian Sun. We returned to Celebrity for our next two cruises, taking
Infinity through the Panama Canal and Millennium from Barcelona to Venice. We
next sailed on Regal Princess as part of a Europe and Baltic cruise/land tour,
and returned to Infinity for a Hawaiian cruise last December. Reviews of all
cruises from Galaxy on appear on this website.

Why this Cruise?

After sailing on four of the major cruise lines we thought that we should
experience Holland America Lines. We had already scheduled a transatlantic
repositioning trip on Galaxy in May, and this particular cruise seemed well
suited to us. Although we had
visited Cozumel and Grand Cayman on Norwegian Sun, and Jamaica on Enchanted
Isle, we felt that there were different land excursions we could take on this
venture. We also liked the schedule of sea day, two port days, sea day, port day
and final sea day. This rotation between sea and land days has not always been
possible, of course; but we both think that cruises should be more than just
visiting different ports or countries.

The Itinerary

We sailed from Tampa on a Saturday. After a day at sea we stopped in Grand
Cayman. The next day was at Montego Bay, Jamaica, followed by another sea day.
Then we landed at Cozumel Island in Mexico for a long day. This was followed by
our last sea day and return to Tampa the next Saturday.

Review Format - What Is Covered and What Is Not

I suppose there are people who call their travel agents, tell them to book a
cruise, and do nothing until the day before embarkation when they pack and take
off. We like to plan a lot, and feel that this is part of the fun of cruising.
So we divide the review into pre-embarkation planning, getting to the ship; the
cruise proper, port visits, and debarkation, followed by an overall picture of
how we liked it, and the reasons for our feelings. Since we do not gamble, we
will not review the Casino, which seemed fairly nice, and had some frequent play
from our dinner companions. Nor do we use the spa facilities. We can’t rate the
service or comfort of the poolside deck lounge area either. We do not play
trivia games or newlywed games. If I tried Karaoke with my singing voice, the
Captain would signal for another lifeboat drill, or perhaps just abandon ship.

Pre-planning Any Cruise

If you have questions about any ship or cruise line, you can get a review of
most ships and cruise lines in the “Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships
2004” Douglas Ward; Berlitz Publishing Co.; the “Unofficial Guide to Cruises;
8th Edition”; Kay Showker and Bob Sehlinger; Wiley Publishing Co. and “Stern‘s
Guide to Cruise Vacations 2004“; Steven B. Stern, 13th ed. Pelican Publishing
Co. You can find (or order) these at most large bookstores such as Borders or
Barnes and Noble. I know the Berlitz 2004 edition is out as is the “Unofficial
Guide” and the Stern should be shortly. All three of these books will also
provide a wealth of detailed information on cruising. Since itineraries are
subject to change, and not set much more than a year in advance, you should go
to the cruise lines’ websites to get the correct itineraries and dates. You then
can check with your travel agent to see the brochures which will give you a
schematic of the ships’ layouts and cabin locations. In many cases you can order
brochures directly from the cruise lines, but these brochures for the major
lines cover separate specific destination areas, and not the entire cruise line
repertory in one brochure. (Small lines with few ships are an exception.) The
pricing options vary widely. Every line has an early booking discount; many
offer specials in the last days before sailing if you want to take a chance; and
there are a variety of “specials” and package deals through various travel
agencies. No one recommends that you do your booking through the net; having
your travel agent do the actual talking to the booking clerks is best; but the
net can provide a lot of information. Some people make the itinerary the prime
factor, some the cruise line or specific ship, and others are controlled by time
constraints and the availability of cruises within their budget range. Like many
people, we consider the itinerary first, and then look at the cruise line and
date options.

Tour Preparation

We wanted to visit Chichen Itza on the Yucatan peninsula, see a little more of
Jamaica beyond Dunn River Falls, and wander around Grand Cayman with some
snorkeling thrown in. We also did not want to rely on the tours provided by the
cruise line. Sometimes these work out well, and sometimes they are really the
only thing available; but we have found researching travel books and searching
the web on our own can be very rewarding. So off I went to the net about two
months before departure. In checking other reviews on Jamaica we were advised
that Barrett Adventures would be good. This company does not have a web site,
only an e-mail address, which is: Carolyn@barrettadventures.com. If you are
going to Jamaica, particularly if you are landing in Montego Bay, I strongly
advise checking this out. What they do is give you a list of possible sites with
a fairly detailed explanation. Then they will set up any itinerary within this
range which falls within your time and budget perimeters. The company charges
for driving you on the selected tour by the hour, so the more people who can get
together, the cheaper. The locations visited will have their separate admission
fees which you pay. We selected the rafting trip, the bird sanctuary and
Greenwood great House. After we made our selection and confirmed it, we received
an e-mail with detailed directions on finding the tour which included the
following:

“Work your way to the back where the desk is and look for me
standing near it. I will be smiling foolishly and holding a sign
with Barrett Adventures on it. Hopefully, it will even be legible
and spelled correctly.”

Anyone with that approach and sense of humor must be fine.

For Grand Cayman we would skip the sting ray petting at Sting Ray City since we
had participated in that marvelous activity on our prior visit. I like to
snorkel and had read several books which stated that there were a number of
spots where you can simply walk into the water off the beach and do some good
snorkeling. Since we did not plan to spend all day in the water, we rented a car
on the net. There are a number of tours to Chichen Itza, including flying tours.
We did not want to fly, especially since a chartered flight on a prior cruise
had crashed a few years ago. There are several outfits that provide the tour,
which from Cozumel involves a ferry to the mainland and a bus to the site. We
had read of two companies recommended in a travel book and selected Fantasy
Tours, which can be contacted at: fantasy@prodigy.net.mx. In their e-mails they
were concerned about time, and said that ship’s time was often an hour earlier
than Cozumel time. After several efforts, and what I consider a very
unprofessional lack of response by Holland American, I finally talked to someone
who said that the ship would keep local Cozumel time. It turned our that this
was not so, but we did arrive in time to make the ferry connection. The price
quoted by Fantasy was $95.00 US per person, which was considerably less than the
$129.00 via the ship’s tour. The actual price, since I paid by credit card and
did a lot better on the exchange that the 10 to 1 offered by stores in Mexico,
worked out to be about $98.00; still a lot better than HAL’s price.

Shipboard Accommodation Planning

Once you have decided on the cruise line and itinerary, the next decision
concerns the actual accommodations to be selected. The range here is again very
large, from suites of more than 3000 square feet (how big is your house?) to
“standard” cabins of about 180 square feet. Obviously the difference is price.
These days the newer ships feature “veranda” cabins which make up almost half
the cabins available. Then there are a variety of staterooms labeled “suites”;
some of which, like Celebrity’s “sky suites” are little more than larger cabins
with added amenities and features such as butler service, access to spa
facilities at a reduced rate, etc. Many people, like us, enjoy the outside
access of a veranda, where you can sit on a small deck all your own and enjoy
the sound and smell of the ocean for a better “at sea” experience. Others,
including a travel agent I know, book the lowest cost inside cabin on the theory
that they don’t spend much time there, and they can enjoy the rest of the ship
to the same extent as the people in the largest suite. Traditionally the higher
decks are more costly for identical cabins. Very often the costlier suites are
on the upper decks; the Millennium class ships of Celebrity being an exception
with all its expensive suites being located on deck 6. Most cabins have only
showers, and only very expensive suites have double sinks. Unless you bring an
excessive amount of luggage, you will find that cabins, even the smallest, hold
a large amount of clothing, toiletries, etc. Ships’ architects have long
mastered the art of squeezing the maximum amount of storage space out of every
square foot of cabin area. Hotel architects could learn a lot by observing how
ships utilize space. What about your bags? In most cases they will fit under the
bed, but the ship will store them elsewhere if necessary.

Clothes Planning

This of course leads to the topic of what to pack. The cruise lines will offer
their suggestions, as will the books cited above. However the season,
destination, length of cruise and type of ship control this. Some lines such as
Holland America, Celebrity and Princess tend to more formality than Carnival or
Disney Lines. A new, somewhat upscale line, Oceania, has no formal nights and
neither does the very expensive Seabourn Line. But no line actually requires
formal wear, although they may not admit passengers to the main dining rooms for
dinner in bathing wear, cut-offs or shorts.

Aside from that, the weather and the destinations basically control what to
bring in the way of clothes. Some ships have self-service laundries, and the
Berlitz guide will tell you which these will be; although if you closely peruse
the ships’ layouts in the brochures, you may discover the laundry rooms on your
own.

Getting to the Ship and Back Home

The next consideration is planning the route to and from the ports of
embarkation and debarkation, which very well may not be the same city. All
cruise lines offer to purchase air fare to and from the cruises for you. If they
do so, they will normally include the transportation between the airport and the
pier both ways. You can purchase your own air tickets, of course, and you may be
able to buy transfers to and from the pier separately. If you are going round
trip from the same city for departure and return; a common event for Caribbean
cruises, you can probably do better buying your own air tickets, especially if
you are good at internet shopping. Your travel agent may be willing to help if
you have bought the cruise from him or her, even though their commissions these
days on air travel are virtually non-existent. If you are required to use “open
jaw” flights; i.e. leaving from different cities for embarkation and
debarkation, it is a little more complex to get any savings compared to the
cruise lines, who can save money by block booking on major airlines. [For a good
example of pre-cruise flight planning, read the review of our Celebrity Mercury
cruise from Santiago to Buenos Aires in January 2002 on this website.] However
you may end up with weird routings as we did on our Infinity Hawaii cruise
because we felt we should use Celebrity in order to insure the right connections
to Ensenada. You can vary the departure dates, but the cruise line might charge
extra for this service. Celebrity waives any deviation charges for cruisers who
are members of its Captains Club. If you can do so, always provide extra time,
and for safety’s sake, an extra day in planning your air connection to the
departure city.

Trip Insurance

Finally, there is the issue of trip insurance. We recommend it, but suggest that
you buy from one of the independent insurers rather than the cruise line. The
basic reason is that insurance you buy from the cruise line only covers you for
services supplied by them. If you fly independently, take off on shore
excursions that you book yourself, or extend the trip before or after on your
own, the cruise line insurance will not cover you. However your own carrier will
cover all events within the dates you specify. We have found a firm known as CSA
to be responsive and reasonable. Incidentally, you do not have to insure for all
the costs; but you can pick a figure you would settle for to cover the travel
portion. In other words, you don’t have to add the flight cost to the cruise
cost because you would probably not lose both. The main point is that with any
coverage you get theft insurance, baggage loss, baggage delay and health
coverage. You can even get pre-existing health condition coverage if you buy a
higher priced policy as soon as you book the cruise. Talk to you travel agent
about various policies that are available since they are commissionable also. It
is worth it for peace of mind.

Off to the Caribbean - One more time

While in theory it might be possible to fly from the West to the East on the
same day that the boat sails; in practice this is very difficult and risky. The
only time we did this was when Celebrity arranged our air flight to San Juan for
our Galaxy cruise, and we felt that they had total responsibility for getting us
to the boat on time. It also involved getting up at 4:00 A.M. for a 7:30 A.M.
flight; not a lot of fun. So we flew by a nice, non-stop America West daylight
flight, leaving Phoenix at 9:55 A.M. and arriving in Tampa at 3:40.
Unfortunately, Holiday Inn did not have its shuttle act together and, after
waiting two hours and making repeated phone calls, we took them up on their cab
offer, along with a family sailing on RCI the next day, and got to the hotel
about 6:30.

This was the Holiday City Centre Hotel, and it was all right for the price,
($110.00 including tax) but still a showing some wear and tear with bare spots
showing through our carpet. The desk clerk suggested that Ybor City was only a
short distance away, so we started hiking. It was about two miles away, and not
through a section of town one would choose for a pleasant evening’s stroll. We
were extremely happy when we arrived at a street with lights and restaurants,
even though it is a very tourist oriented place. We ate at an Italian restaurant
called Bernini’s, and it had a nice lively atmosphere, very decent food, and
reasonable prices. We walked around the area for a while, but did not see much
going on for a Friday night, so we hopped a cab back to the hotel and bed.

I should note that I took the Bose Company up on its offer of a free 30 day
trial of its
heavily promoted noise canceling headphones, with disc player. I used it on the
flight. It did work in conjunction with the airplane’s in flight sound system
and movie, as well as with the disc player. The jury is still out on whether it
really does cancel noise to a degree sufficient to justify the cost. I will try
it one more time before the trial period expires.

Embarkation

Our cruise documents noted the sailing tine as 5:00 P.M. and that embarkation
would start at 2:00. After breakfast at the hotel, we waited in the lobby for a
while before stepping outside to catch the shuttle van to the pier, which is not
much more than a mile or so away. There were a goodly number of cruise
passengers waiting as well as the normal airport transfer guests, but we got to
the pier about 12:45. Our bags were promptly taken away by a porter on the
sidewalk who reminded us that we would not see him again. After complying with
this not very subtle tip suggestion, we went inside the pier building where
embarkation proceedings had already started. So much for a 2:00 P.M. boarding
commencement. We had filled out our immigration questionnaires on line, and
retained printed copies. When we showed this to the first HAL person, we were
directed to a line which appeared much shorter than the line for those who did
not have this questionnaire in hand. In fact we were at the check-in desk in a
very few minutes and the process there was short. HAL gives you the usual
plastic shipboard card which lets you on and off and serves as a shipboard
charge card. But it does not operate as a room key. Nor do they take a credit
card imprint, but rather hand you a piece of paper which would contain your
credit card information and ask you to fill it out and drop it off at shipboard
guest relations within a day after embarking. After this check in we were given
a number card and directed to a further waiting area for actual boarding. When
they called our number, in about 15 minutes, we got in a queue and while partway
through it, posed for our embarkation picture. Once again it was the best photo
taken on board. We actually boarded about one hour after arrival at the pier,
and when we reached our cabin, our bags had been delivered. HAL provides a guide
to your cabin, but no champagne a la Celebrity; not that we drink it anyway. Our
cabin keys were on the desk, and they were the type with holes punched through a
thick plastic strip. This is not exactly state of the art considering the ship
was built in 1996.

The Stateroom

We had what is called a Verandah Suite on, appropriately, the Verandah Deck,
Deck 9. In size it is little larger than a veranda cabin on Infinity or
Millennium, and slightly smaller than the Celebrity Sky Suite. The desk is good
sized and there is a 72 inch couch (which might form a bed, but we did not try
this out). The teak decked veranda has room for a lounge chair, two side chairs
and a small table of the usual garden variety, not padded teak furniture as
provided on Celebrity‘s Sky Suites. The railing is solid steel for about 2 feet,
with a bar above that and then a wood railing at the normal height. The steel
portion is low enough so that you can see over it while on the lounge chair.
Although this arrangement is not as nice as the Celebrity clear glass railing,
it is better than the higher steel barrier on Princess. The dividers between the
verandas are not floor to ceiling, there being about a six inch gap at floor
level and a larger space above the seven foot level. Why cruise lines do not
make these dividers solid is beyond me, since you can hear normal conversations
from the verandas next door. As I noted, the desk was good sized and had nine
drawers, a place for the TV, and some shelf space above. The desk also had a
rack for holding brochures, etc. There was a fixed, fairly good sized table
between the sofa and desk. The bed had two drawer nightstands on either, one
with a Gideon Bible, a first for a cruise ship for us. The bathroom had a small
tub/shower, about 2/3 the length of a standard tub. but it was a jacuzzi tub.
The sink had a somewhat smaller cabinet than we were used to, and no drawers or
other storage space, but still was adequate. The toilet was the normal vacuum
type, but was by far the quietest we had ever experienced. The hair dryer was
one speed, one temperature only, but was sufficient. Closet space was very good,
and HAL provided more than enough good wooden hangers. The lighting switches
took a little getting used to, but lighting was good, especially the reading
lights on either side of the bed. The bed itself was on the firm side as usual,
but we slept well and have no complaints. The cabin was decorated with three
attractive framed ancient charts of the western hemisphere; a properly
decorative touch. There was a mirror behind the bed and a full length mirror on
one of the closet doors. HAL kept up the grand tradition of naval architects in
providing more than enough space for our clothing and accoutrements. The wall
paneling was a mixture of light wood and painted surfaces, and was neat,
spotless and attractive. The table had a vase of fresh flowers, and we noted
fresh flowers all over the ship. Bathrobes are provided. All in all it was a
highly functional and very attractive stateroom with all the space one would
ever need for a seven day cruise.

Sailing Day Exploration

There was an envelope on the desk with a “ticket” bearing number 61, which was
our table number. So, in our usual tour of the ship we were able to enter the
dining room and locate our table, which was for six persons. The dining room
protocol is a little unusual. The dining room is on two levels, Deck 7 and Deck
6 connected by a staircase, and an open area between the two, making the lower
level much larger in terms of actual tables. While most ships simply have 2
seatings, HAL actually has 4. The early dining group eats on the smaller level,
Deck 6, at 5:45; the lower level diners start at 6:15. Similarly the “main”
dining group has the upper level starting at 8:00 and the lower level at 8:30. I
suppose this was designed to help the servers, although I have some difficulty
in imagining how this works in practice. We did observe that there appeared to
be a larger number of tables for eight or more on the lower level while the
smaller upper level had more tables for two, four and six, with only a few for
eight and none larger. The dining room is at the stern, so it has windows on
three sides.

The ship is pretty well laid out. Decks 4 and 5 are mostly cabins. 6 has a few
offices and is the lower level of a three story atrium. It is called the Lower
Promenade Deck and has a real teak walking promenade around the entire ship.
Since there are outside cabins on this deck, their windows are mirrored on the
outside, I hope successfully, so that the walkers cannot see in. At one point I
walked past one of these cabins while it was open, and the view was clear to the
outside. I think it would be a little disconcerting to have people visible to
you outside your room while you were dressing for dinner. Deck 7 forward has the
show theater, the Rubens Lounge, the photo gallery, Guest Relations, the shore
excursions desk, the Wajang motion picture theater, the Java Cafe, some meeting
rooms and the HAL club for children. Aft of these there is the main galley, not
open for passenger traffic. Beyond that is the lower level dining room, which is
reachable only by the aft elevators and stairs, and as well by the internal
dining room staircase. Deck 8 forward is the upper level of the Rubens Lounge
show room, shops around the atrium, the Ocean Bar also off the atrium, the
casino, the piano bar, the Explorer’s Lounge, a large card room and an
attractive library. The aft part of this deck is the upper dining room. Deck 9
is almost entirely Verandah Suites and deck 10 also Verandah Suites, Deluxe
Verandah Suites and one large Penthouse Suite, plus the bridge forward. The aft
portion of this deck also has an open, saltwater swimming pool and deck chair
setup. Deck 11 is the Lido Deck with the gym and spa forward, the open Lido Pool
with deck chairs amidships, and the Lido Buffet and Lido Terrace aft. The Lido
Pool area has a sort of terrace at one end, with umbrellas and again vases with
flowers; all very pleasant. Deck 12 has the Crow’s Nest Lounge forward, a
walking area amidships with a sliding cover for the Lido pool, volley ball and
deck tennis courts on each side of the funnel, and another HAL Club room aft.
There are two elevator banks with stairs and lobbies. There are also many
stairways forward and aft on the outside decks. This allows you, for example, to
walk down to the open prow area on Deck 5, clear up to the front overlooking the
sea and pretend are on the Titanic! I should note that the ship itself has that
“yacht” profile with a long pointed prow making it look like the more
traditional ocean liner rather than appearing like a floating hotel.

The layout is rather compact, and this is not a very large ship by present day
standards, only 55451 gross tons. But since it carries only 1266 passengers (at
2 to a cabin), the space ratio is therefore 43.8, a very generous size, and just
about in line with Celebrity.
Our cabin location on Deck 9 meant that we were in the center of all activities
and could easily walk to every function or venue above and below without using
the elevator.

The decor on Veendam struck us as unique and very attractive. Rather that having
just paintings of single sculptures, HAL added several display cases filled with
examples of china, ships models, and object’s d’art of all kinds. These displays
were found throughout the main decks. The corridors did not have art or photo
exhibits as does Celebrity, but they were light and clean, although some carpet
areas looked stained. The stairwells and elevator lobbies were open and bright,
and had some paintings.

The ship was immaculately clean and maintained that way throughout. The only
thing we noticed that was a little off were two locations on our corridor, one
forward near the front elevators and the other aft near those elevators. Both
these spots had unpleasant “bathroom” odors for a stretch of about twenty feet.
Our table companions, who had staterooms identical to ours on the same deck,
also noticed this.

We had a quick bite in the Lido Buffet. It is a very attractive site, with fresh
flowers on each table, and attractive furniture. You are provided with real
plates and cloth napkins. HAL has servers to help you to your table as does
Celebrity. There are two main buffet lines, an auxiliary buffet station, a pizza
station and an ice cream site as well as a separate dessert station at lunch.

We unpacked with ease and as the ship pulled away at 5:00 promptly it was
interesting to observe some nice Tampa residential areas off the starboard side
below our cabin.
We went to dinner at 5:45 and were joined by our table companions, Joey and
Chris from Pennsylvania and Jim and Sue from Akron. We were a congenial group
from the start. Our waiter was Sumi and his assistant Achmed, both from Jakarta,
Sumatra. We noted that there were no women among the dining room staff. Dinner
was quite good, especially for a sailing day. Since it was Joey’s birthday, we
shared a cake and did not see the dessert menu.

The Veendam Dining Experience

I had read in the Berlitz Guide that Holland American meals do not live up to
the nice Rosenthal china on which they were served. I disagree. Their menus have
choices among 5 appetizers, 3 soups (one at least is cold), 5 “entree’s”, one of
which is vegetarian, and 3 “grill” items. The normal dessert menu has a fairly
wide range of choices. I believe that every entree I had was well prepared and
served. I thought that my entrees consisting of an Indonesian dinner, venison,
paella, liver and bacon, duck, snapper and osso bucco showed a nice variety and
imagination. The vegetables were also varied and well prepared. The soups were
always quite good, and everyone enjoyed a variety of appetizers. The desserts
were perhaps the weakest point, but still very nice. I don’t eat salad, but
Edith enjoyed hers as did everyone else. One roast beef was brought to Chris in
a medium state, although he had clearly asked for the cow to still be mooing. It
was replaced with a suitable piece immediately. Edith was not too pleased with
one or two of the vegetarian dishes, and thought that more choices should be
offered as is provided on Celebrity. We did feel that the staff was overworked
compared to Celebrity, and were a little rushed. We missed the chance to chat
with our servers after the meal that we enjoyed on every Celebrity sailing. It
was not quite as bad as on both Princess ships, but still not that good. Our
wine steward was very nice and helpful. The assistant maitre’d was pleasant and
available, but I am not sure if he really accomplished much compared to one or
two we have had. We were told that the Executive Chef was leaving after this
cruise for another HAL ship. Just about everyone of the crew who talked about
him was full of praise and said they would miss him, so I hope that my dining
experience is not limited to ships in which Jock Barelmann is the Executive
Chef.

But our overall impression of the Dining Room experience on Veendam was very
good. If Celebrity rates a 95, Veendam is a 93.

As I noted, the Lido Buffet is very attractive. We seldom had any delays at
either breakfast or lunch. Breakfast is pretty standard, but the coffee is bad
and only once did we get good potatoes. The lunches had a good selection, and
the food was warm and reasonably tasty. The desserts tended to fall into
patterns, that is, a lot of tarts or fruit pies, or a lot of cream pies and
cream cakes; but all were fresh. Every night there is a different late buffet,
but the only one we attended was the dessert special. Needless to say, this was
pretty crowded, and there were some very good items to be had. We have never
tried room service on any cruise. We did enjoy a “formal” tea one afternoon in
the main dining room and casual tea in the Explorer’s lounge on several other
days. So I believe that saying Veendam’s food and food service package is a very
close second to Celebrity is high praise and anyone should be quite pleased with
this aspect of their cruise.

There may be some question arising from the limited alternative dining. Evening
meals are served in the Lido buffet, although the Dining Room always seemed very
full except for the late day in Cozumel. The Lido Dining Room menu for dinner
was posted each day so your choices were known. There were two auxiliary rooms,
the “King’s Room” and the “Queen’s Room”, located just off the upper level
dining room. We asked about these and were told that originally they had been
reserved for special parties or groups, although no one used them until the
Cozumel port day when we were allowed to eat a regular dinner, wearing shorts
yet, in the Queen’s Room at 8:30, because of our late shore excursion. We were
told that the King’s Room would be converted into a “grill room” whatever that
might be. Each of these rooms hold about 35 people. We have no idea if there
would be an extra cost for the “grill room” or what would be served. But we
imagine that adding alternative dining sites involves distinct extra costs since
there is no reduction in the number of regular dining room staff, at least where
the traditional two seating, fixed table dining system is used. Open seating
allows more flexibility, but alternative dining usually involves extra charges
except on the super luxury ships where the basic cruise tariff is high enough to
cover little extras and then some.

That’s Entertainment?

Well, sort of. I suppose we should start off with praise for the fact that the
sound was kept under control and did not drive us out of the room as it had on
Regal Princess.

The physical set-up is somewhat unique. The upper level seating is fairly
standard, upholstered benches seating four or six people. The floor pitch is a
little shallow, so if you have a large person in front of you, there will be a
sight problem. You cannot move from the right to the left side in the upper
seating area since the sound equipment takes up the center area entirely. It is
the lower level which is different. Instead of fixed theater type seats, or
fixed benches, there are a few benches forming the first and last rows, and the
rest of the seating is in the form of free standing, completely moveable dining
room type chairs with curved wooden arms and upholstered seats. There are also
some fixed small tables and marble stanchions around the room. The chairs do not
fill up the entire room, so that gaps and paths between seats are scattered
about.

To some extent you can correct any sight problems by moving your chair, but this
is at the risk of getting in the way of someone behind you. The stage is curved
forward, with
steps in place in front leading up from the audience and a limited proscenium
area. I went on a stage tour and could see that the ability to lift, or “fly”
sets is very limited. While they did their best under the circumstances, the
production numbers were restricted, and the lighting constrained.

The regular shows consisted of two productions featuring the usual
singing/dancing troupe of ten performers, a show consisting of a gentleman
billed as the world’s fasted banjo player, another show with a young lady
playing an electronic violin, a third show with a comic magician and a final
show with the three individual acts combined. There also was a HAL regular
feature, a show put on by crew members, who were all Filipino.

The singer/dancer shows were typical Las Vegas type affairs with the cast
frantically dashing from one number to the next with multiple costume changes. I
enjoy them somewhat, but felt that the stage limitations and the dancing
limitations brought this group down compared to Celebrity and even Princess. I
was joined by several people in wondering how you can listen to 50 minutes of
banjo playing, no mater how fast or skillful. Edith really disliked the
violinist, whose repertoire ranged from pop, to country to gospel. I found her
mildly entertaining and unpretentious. The comic magician had an excellent and
amusing routine, and was by far the best entertainment of all. We noted before
his show started that several rows of seats in the upper seating area where we
were stationed had been reserved for HAL Club members, so we knew that the act
would not have any “blue” material, for which we were grateful. The crew show
was well meaning and earnest, but pretty amateurish. The entertainment apart
from this was minimal. One of the musical groups had some sort of immigration
problem, and did not arrive for several days. There was a “steel band” playing
on deck which sounded okay and not too loud. There was also a two piano and bass
duo which played cocktail music in the Explorer’s Lounge and a pianist of course
in the Piano Bar.

All in all the entertainment was not great, but fortunately, not obnoxious or
loud either.

Sea Days

We like sea days. They are very relaxing. However, Veendam provided very little
activity beyond bingo, trial games and the like. There were no onboard
educational speakers. By comparison, on Celebrity’s Hawaiian cruise, each sea
day had at least four speakers or similar cultural activities. There was a
Catholic Mass every sea day.

There were also a few stretch and exercise classes without charge, and the
gymnasium was quite nice. Edith thought that the instructor provided for the
workouts was excellent. Of course there were the usual art auctions conducted by
Park West. As I noted, the Library was a very attractive room, but its selection
was rather small, about 300-350 fiction titles, and perhaps 100 non-fiction
books. The room did have several jigsaw puzzles out in various stages of
completion. There was an internet cafe of course, with the usual high charges
which did not stop some people. The pools, especially the aft deck salt water
pool had a lot of use, if not exactly activity. The Lido pool with its spas
seemed to attract the children. We had 139 children on board on spring break,
but this was nothing compared to the RCI ship which sailed out just before we
did. It had 400 University of Miami seniors on a pre-graduation party cruise.
Ouch. The HAL Club cruise staff divided the children into three age groups, and
except for their domination of the Lido Pool, they were not in the way at all.
Of course one reason why we took this cruise was to relax, and so the lack of
activity on sea days was not disturbing. Edith went to some events while I
walked around a good deal and got some fine recreational reading in. The ship
had a very large map with our route laid out in a series of dots which changed
color to show our actual location. There were movies twice a day, but the only
one we wanted to see showed only on the first day, and we had seen two of the
others. There were no cooking lessons, vegetable carving demonstrations, craft
sessions, nor even that old standard, napkin folding. Edith did go to one of the
shore shopping talks and found that it was very informative, and not just a
touting of favored stores. We did conclude however that we would not try for the
Hawaiian Island round trip on Statendam in December because that would involve
four straight sea days getting there and four returning, with seven Island days
in between. We think that 15 days on a ship identical to Veendam, with 8 sea
days and HAL’s lack of programming for these days would be too much.

To be fair to Holland American, I believe that their Alaska cruises and cruise
tours, at which they have a great deal of experience, would not have the same
problem. Even the sea days on an Alaska cruise are marked by great views of the
inland passage, the Alaskan bays and the glaciers.
Our Land Tours

George Town, in Grand Cayman, is the city of misdirection. Our e-mails from
Budget Rental indicated that they had a downtown location. We asked at the
information desk on the tender pier where it was and were pointed across the
pier to the Hard Rock Cafe. No Budget Rental. We asked several people and all
were willing to give directions, none of which provided a correct answer. We had
experienced the same round of misinformation asking for our tour headquarters
when we landed there two years ago. We went back to the information desk and had
the lady call Budget. Their office is only at the airport, and we were advised
to got to a store on the pier and wait, which we did for about half an hour.
Eventually a driver appeared and took us to the office. We were greeted by a
large sign saying our auto insurance would not be recognized there, so we had to
buy some. This ran the original, reasonable $37.00 charge up to $70.00. We were
provided with a Suzuki mini-Jeep with right hand drive for left side British
driving. It worked out well though. After only one wrong turn I found my way to
a beach and went snorkeling. The fish were quite varied, although not in huge
numbers. The water is beautiful and the temperature was perfect. After a
satisfactory swim we returned to the jeep and drove to the Queen Elizabeth II
Botanical Garden. The most striking feature of this very pleasant garden was the
blue iguana project. It seems that while green iguanas are everywhere, the blue
iguana was down to just two when the garden began its breeding project. There
were two very large iguanas, perhaps the Adam and Eve pair, in a large
enclosure, and cages with many more in various age groups in the breeding area.
We were getting a little hungry and returned the car to Budget. Grand Cayman has
a high standard of living due to its off shore banking industry, and there are
many very nice apartments and condominiums available for substantial amounts of
money in this unique tax shelter. The driver who took us back to the pier was
from Cuba. Since Grand Cayman is a Crown Colony, ruled by a Governor appointed
in London, it enjoys British recognition and unrestricted travel to Cuba. In
fact there is a substantial foreign population in Grand Cayman to supply the
demand for workers.

Montego Bay

Jamaica does not have a good reputation. We have read that the capital,
Kingston, is very crime ridden. On our Enchanted Isle cruise in December 2000 we
landed in Ocho Rios and did the Dunn River Waterfall trip. We had walked around
Ocho Rios without any problems, except for the constant hustling by street
vendors. We had asked at a tourist kiosk about Jamaican jerk, and were directed
to a fast food spot, where you ordered by the number on the board. But all the
patron were local and the food was good. So our prior experience was not bad.
Our arrival in Montego Bay led to some further confusion. There are apparently
two main piers. Carolyn Barrett had assumed we would arrive at the Terminal
Pier, but we went to the other one, so her explicit directions were
inapplicable. After wandering around watching the tour buses leave we finally
located someone who told us to take a shuttle to the Terminal Pier where the
directions made sense. We found Carolyn quickly. She was waiting for a group on
Norwegian Sun which was running an hour late. Carolyn is from Lake Placid New
York, and has lived in the Caribbean for many years, and I think 9 years in
Jamaica. She led us out back to the loading area and waved up a van which was
driven by her husband Lloyd, a native Jamaican. We proceeded through town to the
rafting site. The rafts are bamboo with a seat for two people. They are guided
by a “captain”, ours was a young man named Rabbi, and you proceed down the Great
River at a leisurely pace. Carolyn had responded to my e-mail inquiry that it
was perfectly safe to bring a camera on this trip. The cost, which we paid in
cash since plastic money seems to be unknown in Jamaica, was $38.00 for the two
of us. It was a pleasant ride and I got a few photos.

We were met at the end, about a 30 minute ride, by Lloyd, who then drove us to
the Bird Sanctuary. This was a private home on a hillside, owned by an
Englishwoman, who had turned it into a private bird sanctuary, mostly for native
hummingbirds. The Sanctuary was maintained by her family and managed by the same
local family who had worked for the founder. They provide you with a small
bottle of nectar and instruct you to sit in a covered lanai next to the house.
Then the birds come, and how beautiful they are! There is a swallowtail
hummingbird, with tail feathers about 6-8 inches long, as well as others. Edith
held the nectar while I tried to take pictures. The light was a little too low
for me to use the maximum speed on my camera, but I did get a few very good
shots. There were three or four people, British by their accents, there when we
arrived, but soon left the place to us and the manager. The cost was $8.00 each
and well worth it. Our next stop was to be Greenwood Great Hall. Montego Bay is
on the north shore of Jamaica, and we had been south and west up to this time. I
was running out of cash, since I had not wanted to bring much, and Lloyd said he
would have to be paid in cash, so we stopped at the Terminal Pier, I caught the
shuttle to our pier, got some dollars from my cabin, and caught the shuttle back
to the Terminal Pier, all because Jamaica customs would not allow direct access
to our pier. We then proceeded east along the coast to Greenwood Great Hall, the
major home of the Barrett family. This family, of which Elizabeth Barrett
Browning was a member, although she never visited Jamaica, started its
operations on the island in the late 1600’s. By the time slavery was abolished
in 1831, their holdings amounted to 48,000 acres of plantation forming a 12 mile
strip along the ocean. The house is up on a hill, about 100 feet above sea
level, with a magnificent view. It is actually lived in by a family today, and
they derive some revenue from visitors. It cost $12.00 per person. The present
site is five acres in size. Our guide was a native Jamaican, and she was
extremely knowledgeable and very pleasant. The whole tour took more than an
hour, and the artifacts, furniture, and household items were fascinating. The
views from some of the upstairs windows were spectacular. I got some excellent
photos and we both enjoyed the tour immensely. On the way back Lloyd asked if we
were hungry. I allowed that I could use some jerk, and while we were going
through a small town named, of all things, Lilliput; he pulled off the road into
an open air jerk stand. You order by size and I had a 1/4 chicken plus a coke.
Lloyd had some also, but Edith declined. The chicken was cooked on an open grill
and put into aluminum foil with some sauce. It was hot temperature wise, and
reasonably spicy, but I am used to Mexican food, and even Thai food. It was
delicious, and to say the least, authentic. Lloyd said it was one of his
favorite jerk spots, and I am sure I was the only non-Jamaican customer they had
all week, if not all year. We also stopped to get Blue Mountain Coffee from a
hillside store and restaurant which purportedly overlooked a house once owned
and used by Al Capone. We got back to the ship about four which made for a 7
hour day at $20.00 per hour, or $140.00 plus tip for both of us. The entire day
thus ran, including tips, $248.00 for both of us. I think $124.00 per person for
a seven hour, personally guided tour for two, with three separate aspects, was
well worth while. We highly recommend Barrett Adventures, and if anyone reading
this uses their services, say hello to Carolyn and Lloyd for us; they are really
nice people.

We were over an hour late leaving Montego Bay, partly because of some tours
which had been delayed, and partly because a passenger was taken off in an
ambulance. We could see the ambulance approach with lights and sirens, a gurney
taken on board, and later taken out, baggage loaded into another van, and the
ambulance depart without lights or sirens.

Cozumel and Chichen Itza

After a relaxing sea day we arrived in Cozumel. Our daily newsletter, On Board,
clearly stated that we would not be changing the ship’s clocks to local time.
Our tour was to start at 7:00 at the ferry pier, and we were advised by Fantasy
Tours to be there 15 minutes ahead of time. All was well however, because our
docking time of 6:30 ship’s time was 5:30 Cozumel time. Cozumel has two cruise
ship piers and one ferry pier. Fortunately, we docked at the pier closest to the
ferry pier, clearly visible as such about 300 yards down the waterfront. We were
able to grab a quick bite to eat and walk to the ferry pier to meet our tour
contact person with ease. There were only three other people with us, a couple
from Austin and a soldier on R&R leave from Iraq by way of his home in Ohio. The
ferry ride was fast, but Edith found it very rough and almost was sea sick. We
docked in Playa del Carmen on the Mexican mainland shortly after 7:30 and found
our tour guide, Alejandro. Playa del Carmen is a small, but bustling tourist
gateway, with a pier side area featuring many of the same stores found in
Cozumel. Our van was a new Ford nine passenger, fully air conditioned and quite
comfortable.

The trip to the Mayan ruins takes about two and one-half hours. The countryside
is very flat, with one good sized town, Valladolid, and otherwise very rural.
Many of the women wore Mayan style dresses, basically white smocks with
colorfully decorated fringes, bodices and sleeves. We stopped briefly at a store
for a rest stop and the opportunity to buy their wares. Edith liked a necklace,
but once again I was short of cash by choice. We had been provided with a sort
of sack breakfast consisting of a sweet roll, yogurt, crackers and a canned
fruit drink. We arrived at Chichen Itza around noon, and while there were a
goodly number of people, it was not overly crowded. The main site covers about
twenty acres, with eight major buildings. The only one you can actually enter is
the big pyramid, which has a smaller pyramid built inside it. Our guide said
that it is very small inside, conducive to claustrophobia, and resembling a
sauna in atmosphere, so we skipped it in in favor of climbing the outside steps
to the top. This is an experience not to be missed, and even Edith was very
pleased to accomplish it despite her fear of heights. It involves going up 91
steep steps to a platform top with a room allowing an inside passage to all four
sides. My photos came out very well. Descending is more difficult, and we both
used a rope going down the length of the north side to descend. The view from
the top enables you to see several of the other buildings in the immediate
vicinity and a few others over the tree tops. Since you are above the tallest
tree, you can gain a very clear picture of how flat the peninsula is. There is
not another object you height in sight as far as you can see. Alejandro had
given us a guided tour of the ball court and some of the stone carvings, but for
the last hour or so we were on our own. We regrouped at about 1:30, reboarded
our van and proceeded a few miles to a restaurant. It was obviously designed for
tours, but there was only one small group besides us when we arrived. The food
was served buffet style, and since Edith and I both enjoy Mexican food, we were
satisfied. Drinks were extra, but the lunch was included in Fantasy’s price.
Entertainment was later provided in the form a four very young children dancing
in native costumes. Tips of course were expected. By the time the dancing
started the place had filled up with several bus loads from larger tours. We
then returned to Cozumel and boarded the ferry which was 6:00 Cozumel time, but
7:00 ship time. Again the trip was a little rough for Edith, but I had no
problem. On shore in Cozumel we went to a couple of Diamonds International
stores to redeem charm coupons provided by the ship’s shore shopping guide, and
got back on board just before 8:00. We went up to the Lido Buffet, but it was
closed. We then decided to try the main dining room, which would have its last
seating at 8:30. We showed up in our tour clothes, a polo shirt and shorts for
me and equally casual clothes for Edith, and explained our situation to the
Maitre’d. He graciously led us to one of the auxiliary dining rooms next to the
main dining room where we joined other early seating diners who also had been on
a ship’s Chichen Itza tour, so we had a full normal dinner service menu and
service. Our conversation with the other diners reinforced the validity of our
decision to buy our own tour. Not only was it cheaper, but the personalized
service from our excellent guide, the comfort of the mini-van, and the lack of
crowding at all stops contributed to a very relaxed exploration for a long day.
We were both delighted with our adventure since this was a place we had both
wanted to see, and it was well worth it.

Debarkation

We would land in Tampa at 8:00 A.M., and our flight back to Phoenix did not
depart until 4:40; so we decided to buy a Tampa Tour from Holland American to
occupy the time as well as provide transportation to the airport. HAL did not
require luggage to be placed outside our cabin until 1:00 A. M.; and this is
never a problem for us. Because we bought the tour we were given a debarkation
card labeled A. Everyone else seemed to have numbers. We were forced to wait
until after 9:00, but we were the first number called. Finding our luggage was
easy and we were directed to our bus immediately outside the terminal building.
The tour lasted about three hours and was highlighted by a visit to the former
Tampa Bay Hotel, built by Henry Platt, a railroad tycoon who had been
responsible for the development of Tampa in the late 1800’s. The hotel is now
occupied by Tampa University, and is a truly wonderful relic of the Victorian
era. We then went to Ybor City, which had been founded, also in the late 1800’s,
by Cuban refugees from Spanish rule. They brought the cigar industry to that
part of Florida, and there is still a cigar factory producing stogies. This is
the same locale we had visited the night before our departure, and on this
Saturday morning it featured an antique flea market. We then took our tour bus
to the airport for our flight home. The debarkation tour cost $57.00, which was
a little high, but we had time to kill and needed transportation to the airport
in any event, so it was not that bad a deal, and the hotel/university was worth
a visit.

Shipboard Information

All cruise ships put out daily newspapers announcing the ship’s activities, meal
times etc. On Holland America it is called “On Board”. It is the smallest in
terms of size that we have ever seen, and although it covers the necessary
items, it seems very minimal compared to the much larger and more information
daily sheets put out by Celebrity and Princess for example. Every noon there is
an announcement of the ships location and other information by the Captain. Of
interest was the fact that after we stopped in Grand Cayman, the announcement
was by a new captain who said he would be taking over for the rest of the
cruise. No reason was ever given. The room TV also contained the usual display
called “Report from the Bridge” which shows location, sea condition, winds and
air and sea temperature. We were also provided with the New York Times news
digest, and 8 page, letter size affair which provides brief news stories,
weather reports and sports; all very nice. Of course we could receive US CNN at
all times. The problem with the Captain’s announcements was that they were not
audible in our cabin, so we missed some of them. There were a few other “bingo”
announcements, but certainly not many and not very annoying.

Photo Service

The grand sea tradition of horrid photos continues. The boarding picture was the
only one we purchased, and was the only one that was any good. We did not do a
formal night portrait.

The Crew and the “No Tipping” policy

Holland American has a reputation for excellent service, and we saw why. I have
already mentioned the dining room staff, but all the servers at all the venues
were similarly smiling, helpful and friendly. They all seem honestly cheerful
and happy in their work. Our room steward was also friendly and smiling at all
times, and when I requested a fresh towel from housekeeping after our steward
had gone off duty, they had one delivered very promptly. The Guest Relations
staff was also very nice, as were the shore excursion people in our limited
contact with both departments. They did not have a bank desk per se, but Guest
Relations made change when asked.

The “No Tipping” policy still causes confusion, and HAL does little to help. The
Cruise Director, as part of his debarkation talk, read the policy which simply
states that HAL pays its people and therefore no tipping is required. Employees
are not allowed to solicit tips. They did not, but neither have the crew on any
other cruise line we have been on. But they are not forbidden to accept tips.
The consensus at our table was to provide tips at about the same level as on
other cruises, $7.00 per couple per day for our waiter and cabin steward, and
$4.00 per couple per day for the assistant waiter; and we expect most people do
the same. There are a few of the very expensive cruise lines which have a true
no tipping policy in which crew members will politely refuse tips;
but HAL’s ambivalence is merely frustrating.

Overall Evaluation - Would we do it again or would we recommend it?

Our final evaluation was that this cruise lived up to our expectations in
virtually every respect. In one area, the food in the main dining room, it was
better than anticipated, while in another, shipboard activities, it provided
less that we expected. The land cruises were our own, and neither their success,
very high in Jamaica and Chichen Itza; nor the shortcomings, the high car rental
cost in Grand Cayman; can be laid at Holland American’s door. The appearance and
decor of Veendam is most attractive, the public rooms very soothing, our
stateroom almost all we could expect in its category and price range. The
shipboard service in all departments was beyond reproach. The entertainment was
weak, but not actively annoying as on Norwegian Sun. Our table companions were
delightful and contributed to our enjoyment of the meals, but I guess HAL cannot
claim credit for them either. But we have found that almost all the fellow
passengers we have had at our tables, (and with the exception of Norwegian Sun,
we have always had fixed seating), have been very pleasant. So the final rating
on the success level for this cruise would be very high.

Would we do it again? Probably not, since we have been to all three stops twice
already. But for someone who has not been to the Western Caribbean, or who, like
us, has had only one prior visit; this is a cruise to be recommended. Holland
American is extremely professional once you are on board Its crew members’
dedication to passenger service is remarkable even in an industry which is
generally marked by devotion to the too often forgotten maxim that the customer
is always right. The food is well above average, and the general ship ambience
is artistic and pleasing. We wanted a relaxing Caribbean trip with a tour of
Chichen Itza and Jamaica, and we got what we hoped for.